


A Little Help From Your Friends

by wickedwitchcraft



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Getting Together, M/M, WinterPanther - Freeform, cuz he can take a beating, in a good way?, oblivious idiots, the strong ladies love bucky
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-14
Updated: 2018-08-14
Packaged: 2019-06-27 03:05:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15676749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wickedwitchcraft/pseuds/wickedwitchcraft
Summary: Bucky and T'Challa are in love. They just don't see it. Lucky for them, everyone else does. Sometimes you just need a little help from your friends.





	A Little Help From Your Friends

**Author's Note:**

> Hellooooo! I know its been ages but it was somebody's birthday so i had to come out of hiding to bestow a gift! This is for the lovely Forticia! (i dont know how to link things i am sorrry!!!) But her lovely friend Amelia Sun wanted a surprise fic for so here it is! Thank you both so much for so many of your cute prompts you've sent! i appreciate them so much! HAPPY BIRTHDAY LOVELY!!!!

He was sitting on Shuri’s lab table, shirtless, and kinda freezing. But he didn’t wanna say anything, didn’t wanna be a bother. She pressed her finger tips gently to his shoulder.

“Any pain here Mr. Barnes?” she asked, Bucky shivered and shook his head. She glanced at him, very clearly suspicious. She moved her fingers to the beads on her bracelet and the table beneath him began to warm up. He looked down at it and then back to her.

“Did you-?” Bucky half asked. She nodded and began working on his arm again.

“You really must start letting people know when you’re uncomfortable. Tell people when things are bothering you.” She said, pressing her fingers around the skin where his new arm was going to go, sending him questioning looks with each harder press and nodding when he shook his head once more.

“I just… I don’t want to be an inconvenience. You’re all doing so much for me already.” He said, shrugging. She stopped her movements and looked at him, for a very long time. An uncomfortably long time. So long that Bucky looked away, dropping his eyes to his lap to avoid whatever that look in her eyes was. He finally looked up again when Shuri spoke.

“Brother! Come i-“

“I can come back later.” He said shortly, cutting Shuri’s greeting short. Bucky turned just in time to see T’Challa nearly jogging out the door. He looked back to Shuri, she smiled at him, knowingly, and said nothing.

~***~

“You really must start taking better care of yourself.” Okoye’s voice carried over Bucky’s shoulder, startling him, he dropped the bag he was about to toss and turned to her.

“You enjoy sneaking up on people don’t you?” Bucky asked, rubbing his hands together, she shrugged briefly but a smile was tugging at her lips. Bucky had begun to see more of this look on the general, he liked it. He figured the more he earned her trust the more he would see of it. He was willing to wait for it.

“You didn’t just come here to lecture me about my poor self-care did you?” Bucky asked, turning back to what he’d been doing.

“No. I came here to ask if you’d like to start training with us? A few days a week to start. And then, if you’d like, more.” She said, clearly keeping her voice level with an effort. Bucky turned back to her again, hands resting on his hip, one rising to wipe at the sweat on his forehead, and then falling again.

“I figured the routine would be good for you.” She explained, shrugging like she was bored. Bucky thought about it and then nodded.

“Good.” She said, hitting her staff against the ground, mostly out of habit at this point Bucky thought, there was no one but him around, and turning to leave.

“Come.” She said as she turned and began striding out into the open field that separated Bucky from the city.

“You meant now?” Bucky called, jogging awkwardly after her to catch up. When he fell in stride beside her he saw one of those almost smiles on her lips again and smiled at the ground himself.

~*~

He’d been thrown on the ground several times, by several different guards and was having the time of his life. Their training was fast, and relentless, but it was also fun. They were so full of life, and their laughter was contagious. Bucky found himself smiling easily around these kind, giving, women who protected this country with their lives without question. A hand fell into view and he was pulled to his feet once more. They spoke amongst themselves, in their langue that Bucky was very slowly picking up on, and then they all laughed together.

“Okay I don’t know what you said, but I recognized “White wolf” and I’m sure it wasn’t very flattering, but more than likely justly deserved.” Bucky said, dusting himself off and stepping out of the center of the ring as the ladies around him laughed again. Okoye dropped her hand on his shoulder hard and gave him an actual smile.

“They like you. You’re resilient. Even if you end up on your back every time.” She said, her smile turning teasing. Bucky rolled his eyes and stepped back to watch the next round.

Okoye slammed her staff down once and they all stood at attention, Bucky locking up as well, old habits die hard, or so they say. Bucky found that lots of things die hard.

“At ease.” T’Challa said with a smile. The ladies relaxed, the smiles stretching back across their faces. T’Challa’s eyes fell to Bucky.

“What is he doing here?” he asked, his words harsh. Bucky shrank back involuntarily. His shoulders hunching in. He felt a hand on his back, between his shoulder blades, one of the soldiers had placed her hand there, gently.

“Losing, mostly.” Okoye said, that smile on her lips again.

“Mostly?” a voice from the crowd asked and laughter ran through them again. T’Challa’s eyes lingered on Bucky for a moment longer, making him feel about an inch tall, before he moved on.

Bucky stayed back, watching them all fight and spar. Until one of the soldiers yelled that T’Challa should fight the White Wolf. Bucky felt his stomach drop. He’d been distracted half the time they’d been fighting, staring at T’Challa’s muscles as he moved. He shook his head and looked at Okoye, who’d been the last fighting with her king. He stepped back and held her hand out, motioning for Bucky to go ahead.

Bucky sighed and stepped forward, taking a stance across from T’Challa.

“Do you want me to hold back? I can if you wish.” T’Challa said, not unkindly, not mocking. Bucky shrugged.

“You can give me all you got, I can take it.” He said, his fists tightening reflexively. T’Challa nodded, a strange look in his eye, Bucky could swear he saw him shiver. But he didn’t really have time to think about it before T’Challa was lunging forward and he was on his back, again. The circle of ladies around him laughing.

“That’s got to be a new record.” Okoye said, as T’Challa offered his hand to Bucky and pulled him to his feet. Bucky’s skin tingled at his warm touch. He let go and brushed imaginary dirt off his pants.

“I was a little distracted.” He muttered.

“What was that?” T’Challa asked, Bucky looked at him and fuck, he was smiling.

“Nothing.” Bucky said, shaking his head.

“You wanna go again?” he asked.

“Will the end result be any different if we go again?” T’Challa asked, his voice playful, there was a glint in his eyes that was making Bucky’s stomach tingle.

“Maybe.” Bucky said, shrugging.

“Never know if we don’t try right?” he said, not sounding confident exactly. T’Challa inclined his head and motioned with his hands for them to step back into position.

The second round lasted longer. Longer than any fight Bucky had had that day, and he suspected that T’Challa was in fact going easy on him. But the feel of T’Challa’s skin against him, and T’Challa just being so _close_ , kept his mind off that. And in the long run, he really didn’t care if T’Challa was going easy on him or not, just that he’d stopped looking at him like he was an annoying bug that he’d really like to swat.

And then, just like that, T’Challa was on top of him, pinning him down, his body pressed _just so_ between Bucky’s legs. Bucky’s brain went blank and his body went limp. The only thing in his brain for some reason was Nala’s line from The Lion King “pinned ya again.” That was on repeat in his head as T’Challa pinned him to the ground.

“Do you yield?” T’Challa asked, his voice breathy. Bucky swallowed hard and nodded. T’Challa was off of him and then he was gone, excusing himself quickly and disappearing in seconds. Okoye pulled him to his feet and slapped him on the back hard, bringing him back to himself.

“You did well. For your first day.” She said, shrugging and elbowing him good humoredly. Bucky nodded and let out a breathy laugh.

“Back home for you I think. You look a bit dazed.” She said, squeezing his shoulder and letting him go. Bucky didn’t see the sly look in her eye as he turned away.

~***~

“How long has this been going on?” M’Baku asked, bumping his shoulder into Shuri’s. She looked up from the tablet she was holding and followed his eyeline. She rolled her eyes when she looked up to see Bucky and T’Challa, they were walking slowly around the small market of the village they were visiting. T’Challa was pointing to things and then leaning in closer to Bucky to explain what it was and how it worked. Bucky smiling and nodding, his eyes bright.

“Ages.” She said, looking back to her tablet, her brow furrowing in concentration.

“Is it going anywhere?” M’Baku asked, crossing his arms and keeping his eyes on the pair. Shuri shook her head.

“Someone should do something.” He said, sounding sure of himself.

“I have tried. _Several_ times. Nothing works. They are like two oblivious school girls.” Shuri said, shutting off the tablet finally and crossing her own arms, looking at them as well.

“It’s useless. They’ll never get it. And if they do, they’ll be old men. And they’ll do things like…garden. And knit sweaters from wool off their own sheep.” Shuri said, sounding bitter. M’Baku looked at her.

“Been thinking about this a lot, haven’t you?” he asked, a smile forming.

“No.” she said flatly.

“It’s just annoying me. They’ve been like this for months!” She said, throwing her hand up in frustration and nearly dropping the tablet. M’Baku nodded at her and then began to walk toward them, she grabbed his arm and stopped him.

“Where do you think you’re going?” she whispered furiously.

“To fix this.” He said with finality and walked off, Shuri’s outstretched hand hanging in the air behind him.

~*~

“And this one, it only takes days to mature in this soil. Days to mature a fruit that grows several in a bushel, it’s a necessity for villages like this.” T’Challa explained, holding up a blue-ish fruit for Bucky to see.

“That’s incredible.” Bucky whispered, taking the fruit and holding back a shiver as his fingers brushed T’Challa’s.

“You know what else is incredible?”

They both turned to see M’Baku standing three feet away, hands on his hips, staring at them.

“What?” T’Challa asked after an awkward moment.

“You two.” He said simply. Bucky’s stomach dropped, he kept his eyes resolutely off of T’Challa.

“I beg your pardon?” T’Challa asked, his head tilting a little, his voice full of an amount of composure Bucky was sure he’d never felt in his life, least of all this moment.

“You. Two. Together.” M’Baku said, pointing between them.

Bucky’s face and neck and even his fucking shoulders were hot now, he could feel the blush crawling over his skin.

T’Challa said nothing, just stared at the man in front of them.

“Really? Do I need to spell it out? You like him. He likes you. Get your shit together. Everyone can see it but you. You’re making fools of yourselves. And for the sake of the kingdom. I had to say something. _Someone_ had to say something.” M’Baku said, crossing his arms. T’Challa opened his mouth and then closed it again.

“You’re welcome.” M’Baku said and walked away.

Bucky stood completely still. He didn’t want to move. He didn’t want to speak. He wanted to sink into the ground and disappear and then maybe come back in the next life as a tree. Life as a tree sounded peaceful, he could be a tree, he could be the best damn tree there ever was.

“Bucky.” T’Challa said, clearly not for the first time. Bucky shook his head and looked him.

“Hmm?” he hummed, his head still a little fuzzy, his body hot all over now. It took him a moment to remember why that was.

“I am sorry about that. I hope he didn’t make you uncomfortable.” T’Challa said, always so kind. Bucky laughed through his nose, and prepared himself to brush it off, saying it was nothing, just him being silly. But then Shuri’s voice echoed through his head, telling him to tell the truth more, about how he was feeling.

“He was right.” Bucky said, a little blunt, but it was a start. T’Challa blinked at him.

“About me at least. I do like you. If you don’t like me that’s oka- mmm!” Bucky almost jumped out of his skin when T’Challa pressed his lips against his. His hands on the side of Bucky’s face, gentle, holding him, but loose enough that he could pull away if he wanted. He didn’t want that. Would never want that. Bucky sighed and pressed forward, wrapping his arms around T’Challa’s neck and pulling him closer. He finally pulled back to breathe and smiled what he knew was a punch-drunk smile.

“I’ve been wanting to do that for months.” T’Challa said, his thumb ghosting over Bucky’s bottom lip.

“Should’a done it sooner, it’s not good to keep that kind of thing bottled up.” Bucky said, smiling hard now, his cheeks hurting.

“Good advice. Doesn’t sound like you at all.” T’Challa said, laughing.

“Your sister is a very smart woman.” Bucky said, brushing his nose against T’Challa’s.

“Hmm yes, she knows that very well. As I’m sure she’ll brag about later. Best to stay away from her for a few days.” T’Challa said, kissing Bucky’s cheeks.

“How do propose we avoid her for days? We see her every day.” Bucky asked, his fingers pressing into the back of T’Challa’s neck.

T’Challa smiled, dropping his forehead to Bucky’s.  

“I’m sure we can think of something.”

**Author's Note:**

> i have been gone for ages, i know, and may be a bit longer, my depression is being a but so its been hard. but i wanted to write this one for her so bad, i pushed through and did it. i hope it eneded up okay! i know its a teeny bit different than what you wanted, but i hope its alright. also bucky ended up with the ladies a lot cuz i wanted him around strong supportive people. love you guys! <3


End file.
